MEDIA RELEASE (9th June 1996)
STOP! INAPPROPRIATE INTERNET CENSORSHIP
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (EFA) today launched a new campaign
to stop Internet censorship proposals at State and Federal level. The
STOP! Campaign will warn Internet users of the impact of poorly conceived
laws and will try to educate legislators about the Internet.
Mr Greg Taylor, campaign manager of the STOP! Campaign said today:
"Australians have already been prosecuted under existing laws for
supplying and receiving objectionable material via the Internet.
We do not believe that new censorship legislation is necessary.
In particular, a NSW proposal mooted as a model for other Australian
states is badly drafted, draconian, indiscriminate, and incapable
of achieving its stated aims."
"A draft copy of this proposal has been leaked to EFA, and it goes
further than any existing or proposed legislation. It is more
repressive than the controversial United States Communications Decency
Act, now the subject of a court challenge and likely to be declared
unconstitutional. More worryingly", Mr Taylor said, "this proposal
has obviously been written by people who have absolutely no knowledge
or experience of the Internet. The NSW Attorney-General has refused to
consult with either EFA or other Internet groups."
The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) will meet in Sydney
on the 11/12th July. It is believed that the NSW Attorney-General will
press his colleagues to adopt the NSW proposals at this meeting. As
part of the STOP! campaign, EFA is calling on all Internet users to
phone, write or visit their respective Attorneys-General in order to
point out the problems with the proposals and to suggest they seek
expert advice before accepting any proposals.
Media Enquiries: Web: http://www.efa.org.au/
Kim Heitman ([email protected]) Ph: (09) 458 2790
Danny Yee ([email protected]) Ph: (02) 351 5159 (W) or (02) 9955 9898 (H)